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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 120 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  3. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  4. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  5. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  6. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  7. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  8. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  9. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  10. There's no middle ________________.
  11. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  12. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  13. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  14. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  17. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  18. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  19. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  20. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  23. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  24. Biology is a ________________ of science.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. bass — low music
  3. ground — crushed
  4. straw — a straw man
  5. ruler — a monarch
  6. fine — high quality
  7. ruler — for measuring
  8. branch — of a bank
  9. tear — from crying
  10. ground — a position
  11. fine — a penalty
  12. straw — dry grass
  13. bass — the fish
  14. bass — the instrument
  15. tear — to rip
  16. ruler — for measuring
  17. straw — to clutch at straws
  18. ground — the earth
  19. fine — all right
  20. content — the amount
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. tear — from crying
  23. branch — of a tree
  24. branch — a division

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com